The world’s biggest hotelier won’t let the downturn stop expansion September 20, 2009 At 6’3”, the chief executive of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Andrew Cosslett has broad shoulders – and with the battering the travel sector has taken over the last year it is just as well. Not surprisingly, the economic downturn has hurt the world’s largest hotel group, which boasts 630,000 rooms across more than 4,300 hotels [...]
Emerging market strength means luxury is down but far from out June 8, 2009 FOR a while it seemed like the luxury goods retailers would escape the global recession relatively unscathed. The rich would still remain relatively rich and any loss of custom in developed countries would quickly be replaced by growing demand in emerging markets like China. That hope has vanished in the past two weeks as the [...]
Newfound appetite for stocks does not mean a bull rally August 2, 2009 INVESTORS are regaining their appetite for equities in the wake of generally positive second quarter earnings results, according to a fund managers’ survey conducted last week by financial information company Thomson Reuters. As a percentage of a typical balanced portfolio, equities were at their highest since the end of August last year, just a couple [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 23, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GCL-POLY TO BUY SOLAR ASSETS FOR $3.4BNGCL-Poly Energy, a Hong Kong-based power plant operator, said yesterday it would pay HK$26.4bn (£2bn) to acquire solar assets from its chairman as it seeks to expand in the green energy sector. The company said it would buy Jiangsu Zhongeng, a supplier of polysilicon and wafers used [...]
CHEQUERED FORTUNES May 19, 2009 LUXURY retailer Burberry, known for its distinctive beige plaid, warned yesterday trading will remain tough, as it revealed profit for the year fell 12.5 per cent, resulting in a £ 5.1m loss after it heavily discounted products, wrote down the value of Spanish stores and bore the cost of moving its London and New York [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 3, 2009 RWC PartnersThe asset manager has appointed Mike Corcell to its London office to launch a new UK long/short equity fund, expected to open in the third quarter of this year. Corcell joins RWC from SAC Investment Management, which he joined last year after a five-year stint at Threadneedle, where he launched and managed the $700m [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES RECESSION INCREASES SUICIDE AND MURDERUnemployment and recession add to the death toll from suicide, murder and heart attacks but cut the number killed in road accidents, according to the most comprehensive analysis so far of the health effects of economic downturn. Researchers at Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical [...]
Crude rises to an eight-month high on hopes the global downturn is easing June 11, 2009 OIL climbed above $72 a barrel yesterday, an eight-month high, after research body the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its global forecast on rising hopes the economic recession is easing. Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 nations, boosted its global estimate for daily oil demand by 120,000 barrels to 83.3 million barrels in its monthly report. [...]
Crude rises to an eight-month high on hopes the global downturn is easing June 11, 2009 OIL climbed above $72 a barrel yesterday, an eight-month high, after research body the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its global forecast on rising hopes the economic recession is easing. Paris-based IEA, which advises 28 nations, boosted its global estimate for daily oil demand by 120,000 barrels to 83.3 million barrels in its monthly report. [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs July 6, 2009 BDO Stoy HaywardThe accountancy firm has hired three new partners to its London business restructuring team. Danny Dartnaill joined BDO in 2003 and has recently been involved in high-profile restructurings in the retail and asset management sectors. Nick Goldstone, who joined the firm in 2002, specialises in the leisure and hospitality sector, while insolvency practitioner [...]